THE SAME DAY that Chronicle Foreign Service correspondent Jack Epstein reported on an uproar in Brazil over present-day slavery in that South American country, California newspapers recounted raids Wednesday at a garment factory in El Monte near Los Angeles where Thai immigrants were allegedly being held in similar servitude.

State and federal agents said workers at the Southern California garment factory were held against their will, forced to work for less than $2 an hour and saddled with debts for their transportation that essential ly made them slaves.

Just last year, the Labor Department identified more than 100,000 workers in California, New York and Texas -- including some in Oakland and San Francisco -- who earn as little as $1 an hour while working in garment industry sweatshops.

The practice of slavery anywhere in the world is abhorrent. But to realize that such an unspeakable crime is taking place right in our own back yard on the eve of the 21st century should send shocks of outrage through every American citizen.